A nurse died of COVID-19. Now Sacramento-based Sutter Health faces major fine
Sutter Health has been fined $155,000 by California regulators after a nurse died from COVID-19, one of the largest coronavirus workplace penalties imposed by the state since the pandemic began a year ago.
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, levied the fine against Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland following the death last July of nurse Janine Paiste-Ponder.
The agency — which has been criticized for failing to adequately police the spread of COVID in the workplace — listed eight citations against Sacramento-based Sutter, including a failure to isolate COVID-positive patients and a lack of N95 masks.
The California Nurses Association cited the fine against Sutter as an example of the dangerous working conditions facing the union’s members.
“Janine and many other nurses were calling on the hospital to address their many infection control concerns but their pleas for safety went unanswered when Janine ended up being exposed,” said Mike Hill, the union’s chief nurse representative at Alta Bates, in a prepared statement.
The union said Paiste-Ponder became infected when she chased after two COVID-positive patients who had wandered into a hospital hallway.
Sutter said it is fighting the penalty.
“We disagree with Cal/OSHA’s findings and immediately appealed the citations. None of the findings are specific to the passing of our beloved colleague. We continue to mourn her loss and are disappointed that her memory is being used for political gain,” the healthcare giant said in an emailed statement.
It’s the second fine against Sutter’s Alta Bates hospital; in February it was fined $10,125 for failing to notify employees about possible exposure to the coronavirus.
If the fine is upheld, it would be the second-largest issued by Cal/OSHA over COVID workplace violations. In September the agency issued fines totaling $436,000 against Overhill Farms, a Vernon frozen foods manufacturer, and its temporary employment agency Jobsource North America.